How to Keep a Garden Hose from Freezing

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 54,673 times.
Learn more...

During times of cold weather, your garden hose can freeze if you leave it outside, especially if water remains inside the hose. When your garden hose freezes, the expansion of the water inside your hose can cause holes to form and weaken the lining of your hose. Additionally, a frozen, connected garden hose can eventually lead to problems with water pressure in the water pipes and water lines residing inside your home.

Remove any kinks in the garden hose. This procedure will remove any blockage of water in the garden hose and allow the water to flow freely. Kinks can also cause holes in the lining of your garden hose if they are not straightened out.

Walk along the length of your garden hose starting from the water spigot and straighten out every kink along the way until you reach the opposite end.

Drain the hose entirely of water. This procedure will help remove any water that has collected in the middle sections of your garden hose.

Grab the end of the garden hose you recently disconnected from the spigot, keeping the mouth of the hose elevated to allow any remaining water to drain down the length of the hose.

Keep each section of the garden hose elevated as you continue to walk down the length of the garden hose. This will allow the water to drain fully out of the other end of the hose when you reach the other side.

When you reach the end of the hose, keep the hose elevated until the water starts to drip slowly from the mouth of the hose or until it stops dripping completely.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 54,673 times.